Notwithstanding the suggestion of the title, Vanessa Severo’s self-penned solo show at Writers Theatre about the iconic 20th century Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is not so much a self-portrait of the painter as a personal picture of a theater artist’s journey towards the icon in question.
And, frankly, the work is at its best when it is explicit about that aim, and less effective when Severo drops her own persona.
In today’s nonprofit theater, there’s much needless worry about who has the right to tell whose story. In this show, effectively a tour which has played at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and elsewhere and moves next to the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, we have a white director in Joanie Schultz and an actress who notes she is from Brazil. The show, of course, is about one of the greatest Mexican artists of all time. Ergo, a potential problem to be headed off at the pass.
I doubt Kahlo herself would have given a damn about any of that. Severo is an excellent performer and you don’t need a common nationality to play Kahlo, even though Severo seems to worry, notwithstanding her achieving a striking physical resemblance to her subject. Still, the issue gets addressed upfront, as Severo justifies her show by discussing her own life and physical challenges and, basically, her search for the essence of Kahlo, a woman who also lived through significant physical and psychological challenges. “We shared so much,” Severo says, “I am beginning to forget we are two separate people.”
I liked that part of this physically stylish and quite elegant show and the director Schultz deftly integrates it with Kahlo’s famous obsession with self-portraiture. (Kahlo painted more than 50 self-portraits, often reflecting what was going on in her body and psyche; around a third of her artistic works featured herself.)
I have some caveats: At a couple of points, Severo says that she has “not said” something or other in any previous performances of her show. But then that does not seem to be true, unless a lot more is improvised than I realized. I suppose there is an argument to be made for floating an unreliable narrator, but my view is that Severo should stick with the truth about herself and her subject. Trust matters in biography.
It’s less effective when Severo assumes the guise of Kahlo speaking to someone else. Obviously, she did not meet Kahlo herself, but that still fights the frame she sets up at the start. If this is a personal piece, it should remain so throughout. It could be done.
Even though this show has been performed several times, it still strikes me as a work in progress from a gifted performance artist who is not quite confident enough to do the show she really wants to do. I say go for the approach that is most singular; there are many other Kahlo explorations and this one, clearly enjoyed by the Writers Theatre audience at the performance I attended, should not fear being a full-on portrait of two formidable Latina women from different times and places.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Review: “Frida … A Self Portrait” (2.5 stars)
When: Through Feb. 23
Where: Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe
Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Tickets: $35-$115 at 847-242-6000 and writerstheatre.org
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